• 2012 was a tough year – tighter regulations introduced by Dept of Finance for all banks

• 2013 will continue to see an extremely competitive market place in slower real estate market

• Low interest rates, strong rental markets, and immigration still provide a foundation for reasonable markets. Spring sales season should be solid, but more modest

Td economics

• The Bank of Canada left the overnight rate unchanged and downgraded its forecast for Canadian economic growth in 2013 to 1.5% (from 2.0% previously).

• The global economic outlook remained more or less unchanged as growth has evolved “broadly as anticipated”. There was a slight upgrade to growth in Japan due to the recent announcement of new policy stimulus. Meanwhile, the Bank expected fiscal drag in the US to weigh more on growth in 2013 as opposed to being evenly spread between this year and next. Overall, the U.S. economy is expected to grow by 2%.